Damaging aspect of Colonization on the Philippines

By

Thanon Thamvorapol

Song G. 1-2

Damaging aspect of Colonization on the Philippines

Damaging aspect of Colonization on the Philippines Thanon Thamvorapol

(Song) G. 1-2
Introduction

The Philippines is one of the countries under the colonization of the Worlds

Powerhouse countries, USA and Spain, having gain what that is left off by those countries.

Those great technology and the foundation of economic and government ahead of many other

South East Asian countries are the fundamental factors into emerging as the ASEANs

Powerhouse or even the World. But despite having those advantages, the Philippines is not

even ASEAN best statistically and it hasnt shown to be more developed than Thailand as

well. It shows that being colonized by the Western power doesnt help boost the Philippines

economy, sport and politics/government to be among the worlds best.

The Downfall of Economy

The Philippines economy after the colonization of the U.S. is worse than Thailands.

Their economy went downhill and fall behind Thailand, since the U.S. left the country after

they gave up the Philippines, the independence. According to the factbook from the Central

Intelligence Agency or CIA website, the Philippines power to purchase (GDP) is around $

801,900,000,000 in which is 359 billion dollars less than Thailand that ranked 21st of the

world (Country comparison: GDP, 2017). This means that the Philippines isnt even ASEAN

best yet, not to mention the world level as the countrys power to purchase products from

foreign countries (GDP) determine how big and strong your countrys economy is. For the

Philippines, its GDP still hasnt become among worlds best with the country being ranked at

the 30th place and even behind Thailand, although they had gained a lot of advantage such as

infrastructure and etc. ahead of other into raising the economy by the U.S. from the

colonization. In addition, according to the data of the World Bank website on the

Unemployment percentage of countries in the year of 2014, there are 7.1% of the whole

Filipinos population of 98 million people in the Philippines that are unemployed in compared

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with Thailand of just 0.9% (Unemployment, total, 2017). This means that around 7 million

Filipinos are unemployed and is likely to homeless at last. So you can see that the

colonization doesnt raise the quality of people life and as for companies that failed to hire

these employees. These all resulted from an unstable economy. More importantly, is that

whether the people of your country is employed or not tell your countrys economic stability.

Those 7.1% people who are unemployed might meet a failure to pay for daily life and could

possibly turn into homeless people in the end. Thats a total of around 7 million Filipinos that

are not benefiting the country and at the same time using up the countrys budget; thus,

slowing down the economy not to reach the goal of being ASEANs or the worlds economic

powerhouse country. Even though the Philippines economy after the colonization of the U.S.

is pretty well set by them, ahead of other, the country still hasnt emerged to be a giant

powerhouse of the world or even ASEAN as their GDP and unemployment rate still catching

up with Thailand.

Intervention by the U.S. and Spaniard influences

The U.S. and Spanish influence intervene with the Philippines government and

politics. Although those countries left, their influences did not. As a result, the Philippines

government has since been interrupted which also means that the government isnt

transparent and wont be until those influences are perished. According to Jason Strothers

article on Power of The Catholic Church slipping in Philippines, the government of the

Philippines is being intervened by the Catholic Church of the country since the religion was

introduced in the 1500s. The church having the voice of millions from an 80% or more

Catholic within the country. As Jason Strother (2013) stated, Historically, organized

churches have been involved in electoral politics in the Philippines, including in the selection

of candidates and church members who have run in elections themselves. They have the

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power to promote or demote the presidential position. They also limit the news and

information of those who believe and to rely on the clergy. Not only the politics they

intervened but the governments campaign on passing the Reproductive Health Law, a law

that limits birth, guarantees sexual education, maternal care and many other beneficial things

that encourage a life quality in which they opposed with the reasons of unnatural and

immorality and all the religious stuffs. Not to mention that Catholic isnt the only religion of

the country and that means there will be at least a group being left out. With these being said,

the Catholic Church, the remaining of the influence by the past Philippines colonizer, Spain

is being bias and selfish by taking the religious ideas into play with the politics and

government that causes a retrogression of the country. Pursuing the religion might obstruct

the best for the country as there will always the country should do what that is good for the

country not what that is moral. Furthermore, as stated by the article, Current U.S.

Intervention in the Philippines, written by Bobby Tuazon, the director of policy studies

(CenPEG), the country has still remained as a neo-colony of the U.S. through the installation

of puppet governments that would assure to guarantee the U.S. interests. Policies have also

been established to the benefits of the U.S. for instance, the secret Mutual Logistics Support

Agreement (MLSA), the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the July 2003 executive

agreement that grant American forces immunity from any criminal prosecution within the

Philippines (Bobby, 2003). From these news on policies that were established, you can see

that ever since the colonization of the U.S. on the Philippines, the U.S. has been intervening

and taking advantages with the country till now. With the Philippines politics and

government being intervened by the influence of its once colonizer, it obstructs the

development of the country from its best by a forced assurance to guarantee interests for

those countries before the country itself. So instead of boosting their own country, theyre

actually doing it for the sake of their formerly colonizers.

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Philippines sports spot

The Philippines sports topped Asia under and after the colonization of the U.S. and

Spain. Under the colonization from countries that are great at sport for over 400 years, its

undeniable that the Filipino athletes will be pretty good if not as great as them; and basketball

is one of them. Track back to the 1900s, basketball was invented by the Americans and it was

at that time that the U.S. still occupied the Philippines, so basketball quickly emerged into

this country by the Americans and soldiers in particular that was in charge of the country.

Therefore, it isnt surprising that the sport is also one of the most played sport in the

Philippines that was once their colony; and as expected, the Philippines men basketball

ranking is the 21st of the world and only third in Asia according to the basketball federation

website or FIBA on World ranking (Nike FIBA World Ranking, 2016). It is ranked greater

than most Asian countries that produce many of a high quality athlete such as Japan and is far

beyond Thailand. Being the very first country to have ever play the game under the influence

of the U.S. from colonization gave them a big advantages head start before other and was

easier for them to top the world. On the other hand, according to a statistic website on the

most popular sport in the world based on viewers, football came in first before basketball as

the most popular sport in the world statistically; thus, it is worth watching and playing the

most (Most Popular Sports Worldwide, 2015). This results in a huge amount of money being

flooded into the country from all those viewers. However, as opposed to Basketball,

Philippines football is placed at 122th worldwide as ranked by the football federation (FIFA)

on men football ranking, which is not impressive at all (FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking,

2017). Therefore, its likely that they will lose an opportunity to gain benefits from football

from all the sponsors. It can be said that even though, the Philippines was under the

colonization of Spain, the one-time world cup champion and the U.S., the worlds top 30,

their football ranking is still pretty low in Asia. Its a ponderable thing how the Philippines

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basketball topped Asia and is recognized in the global level due to an early head start from

being the Westerns colony, their doing on the worlds most famous sport that is worth

playing the most, football isnt very noticeable, not even within the region itself.

Conclusion

To sum up, being colonized by the Western power doesnt help boost the Philippines

economy, sport and politics/government to be among the worlds best. Data and records

collected by CIA and the World Bank website shows that the Philippines economy isnt big

enough to be the worlds powerhouse as they dont even surpass Thailand yet. Articles

composed by professors also stated that the Philippines government and politics has been

intervened by the U.S. and Spanish influence causing an interruption that discontinue the

development of the country. Moreover, the statistics assembled by one of the sports most

certificated international ranking websites shows that even though the Philippines gained tons

of benefit and support ahead of other in basketball, they fail to bring football, the most

famous sport to be the best of the world. Last but not least, being colonized by the great

power from the Western country doesnt always bring the best out of the country and on the

other hand might infect the country by their exploitative influence no matter the corruption of

the country or the unity till something that has an effect on long term as the disruption to the

country in particular. Therefore, being independent is the best solution for any country. The

rest is up on you to consider.

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References

Country comparison: GDP (2017). Retrieved January 30, 2017 from

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html#rp

FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (2017). Retrieved February 17, 2017 from

http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/index.html

Most Popular Sports Worldwide (2015). Retrieved February 17, 2017 from

http://www.statisticbrain.com/most-popular-sports-worldwide/

Nike FIBA World Ranking (2016). Retrieved February 16, 2017 from

http://www.fiba.com/rankingmen

Strother, J. (2013). Power of The Catholic Church slipping in Philippines. Retrieved February

9, 2017 from http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2013/0306/Power-of-the-

Catholic-Church-slipping-in-Philippines

Tuazon, B. (2003). Current U.S. Intervention in the Philippines. Retrieved February 9, 2017

from http://www.bulatlat.com/news/3-41/3-41-primer.html

Unemployment, total (2017). Retrieved January 30, 2017 from

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS